{"id":1164,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:51:11","slug":"saints-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/saints-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints\u2019 Rest (1856–1876)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Saints\u2019 Rest, circa 1857, with College Hall in the right background. Note the tree stumps remaining to be cleared. Image source:\u00a0MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first student dormitory on campus, this building did not have an official name during its lifetime and was variously known by such generic terms as \u201cthe hall\u201d and \u201cthe home.\u201d The name \u201cSaints\u2019 Rest,\u201d after a popular religious book of the time,†<\/a><\/sup> was not applied to the building until after it burned down during the winter break in December 1876. Since there was insufficient space in the \u201cnew hall\u201d<\/a> to house the displaced students, the dormitory was quickly replaced with the first Wells Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saints\u2019 Rest marker in foreground, Linton<\/a> and Morrill<\/a> Halls beyond, November 2003. In the middle background is a large oak tree believed by this author to be one of the original \u201cOak Opening\u201d trees that had their tops cut off in the very early years of the College, in the mistaken notion that this would \u201cinduce them to spread out and improve in appearance.\u201d[Beal<\/a>, p. 259] Most were enfeebled by this procedure and later died. Photo by Kevin S. Forsyth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A small concrete paving stone, situated between sidewalks just east of the Museum<\/a>, marks the northeast corner of the Saints\u2019 Rest foundation. The engraving is faded, and the stone all but invisible to the hordes of pedestrians that pass it every day. But at certain times of year, when the grass is cropped short, a close observer might be able to see hints of the building\u2019s foundation in the color variations in the lawn. The marker\u2019s inscription reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

N.E. CORNER
SAINTS\u2019 REST
BUILT 1856
BURNED DEC. 9, 1876<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Dig\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During summer term 2005, the M.S.U. Department of Anthropology held an archaeology field school at the Saints\u2019 Rest site. For six weeks in June and July, about twenty students in the senior-level course employed rigorous archaeological methodology to excavate the remains of the long-gone building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the foundation walls of mortared field stone, amid piles of brick rubble from the collapsed and demolished walls of the hall, the students unearthed the detritus of nineteenth-century life: square cut nails; parts of cast-iron stoves that had been used to heat the dormitory rooms; broken dishes and empty bottles; and brass and iron keys. Many of the items were put on display in the M.S.U. Museum<\/a> as part of its Sesquicentennial exhibits. The successful dig demonstrated the importance and benefits of archaeological work on campus, and was a precursor to the official founding in 2007 of the M.S.U. Campus Archaeology Program<\/a><\/span>, the first of its kind in the United States.<\/p>\n

  1. † Baxter, Richard. The Saints\u2019 Everlasting Rest<\/em>. First published circa 1649, this book is available both online<\/a> and in various book forms (paperback<\/a>, hardcover<\/a>, and library binding<\/a>).\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/span><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The first student dormitory on campus, this building did not have an official name during its lifetime and was variously known by such generic terms as \u201cthe hall\u201d and \u201cthe home.\u201d The name \u201cSaints\u2019 Rest,\u201d after a popular religious book of the time,† was not applied to the building until after it burned down during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-m-a-c-buildings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4502,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/4502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}